Thistle held at Bridge of Earn

Thistle traveled to Perthshire to face Bridge of Earn in the Glendale Plastics Championship with the hosts having beaten Thistle 1-0 in the reverse fixture.

With F. Spence, G. Spence and Rintoul unavailable from the previous weeks starting line up there was a return to the starting eleven for Brown, Walker and Gray.

It took Thistle only 8 minutes to open the scoring when a dipping ball from Tulleth was collected by Allan who got in behind Laurie and around the keeper before slotting into the empty net.

The hosts almost responded almost immediately when a long ball into the Thistle box was only partially cleared as far as Moffat whose effort produced a tremendous save from Wortley.

In the 19th minute Bridge of Earn were back on level terms and it was a poor one to concede from a Thistle perspective when another long ball looked like it should be dealt with comfortably however miscommunication between the Thistle defence saw Moffat nip and to put him one on one with Wortley and this time although the keeper got a hand to the ball, he was unable to keep the effort out.

Thistle midfielder Allan had a great opportunity to put his side back in front minutes from the break when another pinpoint Tulleth ball put him through on the keeper however this time Doig did well to make the save however Allan should have done better with his finish.

The second half followed in a similar fashion to the first with Thistle just edging the play and in the 56th minute they were back in front when a tremendous driving run from Whatmore took him to the bye line where he cut the ball back across goal for Tulleth to fire low into the net.

In the 65th minute the hosts were back on level terms against the run of play but it was one to forget for Thistle keeper Carson who needlessly rushed a free kick deep in the Bridge of Earn half but sliced the ball into the path of a Brig defender who launched the ball up the park where McNiven did well to hold off the Thistle defence before firing low past the advancing Wortley with a neat finish.

The remainder of the game saw both sides push for a winner with little to separate the sides with both having to make do with a share of the spoils in an entertaining match.

LM Joinery Man of the Match – Aaron Leadbetter

Team – Ross Wortley, Sam Walker (Scott Nicolson 78), Liam Carson (Capt.), Martin Brown (James Bell 70), Aaron Leadbetter, Davy Whatmore, Ryan Gray, Scott Finlay, Sean Allan, Alan Tulleth (Ronnie Barnes 67), Steven Harris

Subs not used – Sam Anderson, Lee Munro

Tomorrow (Saturday) Thistle are back on home soil when they face Rosebank Athletic in the league with a 2pm kick off.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​